


Marinette meets all members of the Batfamily

by JustLetMeBi



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, Damian Wayne Being Damian Wayne, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, Humor, I had too much fun writing this, I love batfam, I'm trying to be funny, Like dont even get me started, and i love marintte, batfam ships it, i will protect them all, something like that, they deserve love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24152296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLetMeBi/pseuds/JustLetMeBi
Summary: Alternative title - They should all correct their sleeping schedules because they keep meeting in the middle of the night.Aka. How Marinette started dating Damian plus they're both in college.Aka. "Damian Wayne, why did you take this class if you speak the language perfectly. Was it just to laugh at me? Do you enjoy human suffering? You know what, I'll rather not know the answer to that question."(Everyone ships it. Mostly his siblings.)
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 302
Kudos: 946





	1. Damian Wayne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,
> 
> so, I love this fanfiction so much, I've been writing it for the past week and I have almost all chapters, they just need a pinch of editing. And when I say a pinch I mean I need to almost rewrite them. Yay me, that's not going to be fun. 
> 
> But this will be basically Marinette meeting Batfam, and getting together with Damian. Every chapter will focus on one person, but that doesn't mean others won't be in them also ◕‿↼. 
> 
> Thank you for every comment you write, if I have any mistakes here, please kindly say it, English isn't my first language but I'm trying my best ٩(^ᴗ^)۶
> 
> I will update this daily! Next chapter Marinette will meet her fellow coffeeholic! I hope you'll like it!

Even as a 4 years old child, Marinette used to scribble on the walls of her room or occasionally, to the chagrin of her parents, on her clothes. After they picked on her habit, she had an abundance of papers and sketchbooks to fill. Color schemes and designs covered every napkin in a two kilometers radius from her. So it was to the surprise of no one when she applied to a fashion program for the university. 

The years of fighting akumas in every possible and impossible place in Paris caused the girl to flinch or jump into a fighting stance every time she saw a strange shadow or a suspiciously colorfully dressed person. Thanks to that, all of her university applications went outside of the city of love. 

The first week at Gotham State University, otherwise known as GSU, Marinette beamed and pounced on the way to every class with what seemed like inexhaustible energy. The second week it was on a way to every class, save for the Mandarin classes. 

In High School, Marinette's marks from languages were always one of the best. Moreover, her mum always insisted she should 'connect more with her heritage'. Based on this, Marinette should breeze through her Mandarin classes, right? 

Except that no, she didn't. 

"You said, that you wanted to cut your shower dress. Care to explain yourself?" said an annoying voice beside her. Her left eye twitched. 

"Wayne, I'm fairly sure I didn't," she looked at her seatmate. She added through her clenched teeth: "And it would be greatly appreciated if you stopped. Laughing."

"And I'm _fairly sure_ you did," he retorted. "Maybe you-"

"Mr. Wayne, can you please read the sentence on the blackboard?"

"Of course Miss Jones," he turned his head to the front. Then proceeded to read the whole sentence in perfect Mandarin.

"Well done Mr. Wayne, it's the first week and you already don't need this class!" their teaches smiled at him. 

"Thank you," he answered and flashed a grin turning to Marinette. Her eye twitched again. 

"Care to repeat what were you _trying_ to say earlier? And correctly this time?" he asked. Marinette's knuckles turned white around her pen. _You shouldn't punch a civilian. No matter they are annoying a-hole, you're a hero. "_ Or do you want to explain to me what is a shower dress and what did it do to you?"

On the other hand, civilians should have common sense. She would be doing him a favor. 

"Listen to me, Wayne-" she started. 

"Miss Dupain-Cheng."

"Yes Miss Jones?"

"Can you please read the following sentence for us?"

"Of course Miss," Marinette said. After the first few words of a sentence, she heard a chuckle from her left. She kept her eyes glued to the front. Inaudibly, she started counting from ten. 

Which caused her to make another mistake. The sound next to her changed into something suspiciously sounding as if someone was laughing with their hand covering their mouth. 

She didn't turn her head because it was still unacceptable for a hero to punch a civilian. 

"Shower dress," she heard him murmur. This was her second week at the university. Which meant that she had still more than 28 weeks left. 

"Thank you Miss Dupain-Cheng, that was almost correct, you had only few small mistakes," Miss Jones smiled again. 

"To put it lightly," again she heard the voice accompanied by the chuckle. She eased the pen out of her grip when it threatened to break. She slowly turned her head. _She's going to punch a civilian._

///

He wasn't paying attention to anything the teacher said. He came to class, took out his notebook, and started _drawing_. She wrote down another word from the board. Still more than 27 weeks left. 

Her eyes flew to the open notebook next to her. It was a dog. He was drawing _a dog_. 

She wrote down another word, determined to ignore him. 

"Can you say a few sentences to your partner? Try complimenting them using the vocabulary we've been through." Miss Jones said.

Marinette looked at Wayne, who didn't even raise his head. She coughed. Nothing. 

"Wayne," she said. He gave a non-committal sound in response. She sighed. 

"I like what you're drawing. Do you like dogs?" she managed to ask in Mandarin.

"I don't think you meant to say what you said in the first part of the sentence and I didn't even understand _what_ were you trying to say with the second part. Or were those two sentences?" he said, now shading a fur on the dog's stomach. 

She started counting down from 20. By now, her body probably took the eye twitching as a natural reaction to being in the same room as Wayne. Jumping in the water? Hold breath. Smelling croissants from her parent's bakery? The mouth will start to water. Damian Wayne is sitting next to you in a language class? The eye is twitching and you try to refrain yourself from punching him in the face.

~~(Hotel? Trivago.)~~

All purely natural phenomenons.

Science.

///

"You couldn't have chosen any other language class? Maybe, I don't know, in a language you aren't fluent in?" Marinette was almost shaking. 

"The university didn't - you have a mistake there - didn't offer a course in no such language," he said, vaguely waving his hand at her notebook. 

"Excuse me?"

"Oh sorry, are your hearing problems the base of your language learning problems?" he asked with a neutral expression. And yep, there was her natural reaction. 

"Don't you want to change a place with _anyone_ else?" she exasperatedly asked.

"No, I like this place quite a lot."

Only 26 weeks left. 

///

"Either my ears deceive me or you said this sentence sans mistake."

"Shut it, Wayne, that's not the only sentence I said correctly."

"Yes, I believe this was the second one."

"Ha! And the class has only started-"

"I meant from the beginning of the year, Dupain-Cheng," he said, wearing an infuriating smirk.

25 weeks left.

///

"I would greatly appreciate it if you could shut up for a second."

"But I want to hear a correct Mandarin and the only other person here is you."

"What are you even doing in the library?"

///

"Wait, you have siblings? And they aren't in prison yet?"

"Where are you heading with this, Dupain-Cheng, why would they be in the prison?"

"You've mentioned you live together, so I thought for a murder attempt."

He was still for a few seconds.

"You know what? I feel like you would get along like a house on fire. And I don't even mean it figuratively. I will make sure you will never meet them."

"Dami, don't be like that..."

"What did you just call me?"

"What, Dami? It's such a cute nickname, isn't it? Dami, Dami."

"If you'll continue with that, there would be one person in this room with a murder attempt," he slowly grinned. "But it would be successful. And no one would be able to prove me anything."

"Oh, Dami. Why do you have to be so mean."

"Dupain-Cheng, I swear-"

Oh, the next 23 weeks are going to be _so_ entertaining.


	2. Tim Drake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets Tim in a coffee shop. He learns to never cross paths with Marinette when something happens to her coffee.

"Coffee. I would kill for a good cup of coffee.” Then, after a pause she added: “Or at least heavily bodily harm someone. Depending on the quality of the coffee.” 

"Mood, I mean same. I mean why do I talk like this?" Marinette startled and turned quickly to the voice behind her. Since she’s been Ladybug she’s gotten used to speaking her thoughts out loud. Tikki was a good motivational speaker. 

The guy behind her who spoke could be a few years older than her, with tousled black hair and bright blue eyes. Is he her forgotten relative? Maybe that’s why he spoke to her. His shoulders were slouched and he looked as if he would fall asleep standing in the next five minutes. She made a mental bet with herself.

She thought it was physically impossible to look more exhausted than she did, but here he was. At least Marinette was a superhero, what was the guy’s excuse? She snorted. Would it be considered rude to ask? 

Last few days she was living on coffee, energy drinks, and occasional bursts of energy from transforming to Ladybug. What she was trying to say was, that she didn’t know what was socially acceptable anymore. If her crush on Adrien was anything to go by, she had never known.

After the people in the queue in front of her all ordered, she stood next to a counter. She looked at the familiar guy behind it. What was his name again? Josh, Jan, Jake, or was it Eric? Her eyes weren’t doing their job in focusing at anything smaller than Tikki. She raised her eyes from his nametag. 

“Can you make me the cheapest venti anything with 9 extra espresso shots in?” The barista looked at her with concern but stayed quiet. _Wise, Eric, wise_.

After she gave him her name she stepped aside to make space for her long-lost relative and watched. Was it creepy? Maybe. But he might be her relative and she still didn’t have her coffee so her two last brain cells considered that to be a terrific idea.

"The same as hers, please" said the guy behind her. Okay, the possibility of them being related rose.

She narrowed her eyes. He answered her unsaid question by shrugging. Huh, she didn’t even know she was asking something. They simultaneously smiled with the last bit of their energy.

"I like your shirt" she motioned in his general direction.

"Huh? Oh, thank you" he looked down at his shirt. Even though it was still warm outside, he was wearing a suit jacket on it. "I had it made for me. There’s this amazing designer, they’re just starting but I love all of their stuff."

"It seems good quality," Marinette hid her smile. 

“Yeah and it’s also really comfortable. You like fashion?”

“I study it here at uni,” she wanted to laugh at the irony, as she pretended to examine the shirt she made. “Amazing, indeed.”

Marinette picked her drink and thanked the cashier. She took a gulp of the hot nectar in her hands. Boiling hot. Oh, she didn’t think that through. She scrunched her whole face. And took another gulp. 

"Don't you want to put some milk there?" her long-lost brother looked amused.

"Pleasure from coffee is for weak. And for Adrien," she clutched the drink closer to her.

Adrien was living the time of his life after he stopped being model and therefore eating anything and everything. When she _first_ found him eating spoonfuls of vanilla ice-cream on chocolate chip cookies, she just slowly backed from the room, assuming it's some sort of exams-approaching fever dream. And after-exams exhaustion dream when it happened the second time. 

She laughed when she saw the guy trying to cover his scrunched nose when he took a gulp of his drink. 

“You don’t want to put the some milk there?” she echoed his words with a grin. He glared at her from behind his coffee.

They both made their way to an only empty table in the coffee shop. 

“So, my long-lost brother, do you want to share a table?”

“Ehm- sure?” 

So it wasn’t because of a lack of coffee. Marinette just didn’t have any filters that would make sure she’s not making an idiot out of herself on a daily basis. 

///

“You like that book? I need to introduce you to my brother. Wait," he furrowed his brows. "No, actually not to that one. My younger brother."

"They're both literature geeks, but only one of them will own up to it. Jason calls us ‘literature peasants’,” he smiled fondly. “The other one still thinks we don’t know he’s stealing books from the Manor’s library."

"So,” Marinette leaned in her chair and raised her eyebrows. “You wanna tell me more about your younger brother?”

He barked out a laugh. 

"Sure."

///

Marinette looked at her watches. It took him 3 minutes and 20 seconds to drink his coffee. He threw out his cup and longingly looked at her half-full one. She moved it closer to her and sent him her best don't-even-think-about-it look. 

“Why do you even need coffee that strong?” she looked at him.

“I’m a CEO during the day and superhero during the night. I’m like Batman. And you?” he looked at her with a poker face. She skeptically looked at his lean form.

“Well, I’m a university student by day and superhero by night,” she answered just as seriously. 

“No, that’s my excuse, find yours,” he pouted.

“I’m not lying I transform into a superhero with magic, like Sailor Moon,” she said, making a motion next to her face with her hand.

“Of course you do. Are you hiring? Some magic might help me,” he nodded solemnly, though she saw he had an upward quirk to his lips. 

“You are Batman, you’ll manage.”

“Excuse me, I said like a Batman, I’m much better than Batman,” he flailed his hands. 

“Sure you are.”

“Was that sarcasm?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” they burst out laughing.

“Oh!” his expression changed. He started mumbling and frantically searching through his pockets. He took out a phone.

“Shit, no battery, can you give me your phone, I need to write something down before I’ll forget it,” he said in one breath. She looked at him confusedly. “Too slow, okay.”

He snatched the coffee cup from her hands and started writing on it with a sharpie he took out from his suit jacket.

“Okay, if he used-” he was furiously jotting something down on the side of the cup.

“You spilled my coffee,” Marinette said in a blank voice, looking down at the coffee that was now soaking the napkin and her sleeve.

He didn’t react.

The coffee didn't have time to have the desired effect on Marinette. That's her excuse.

“Excuse you, if you won’t make sure there’s a coffee with at least four espresso shots in my hand in the next five minutes I will cut you into pieces, deep-fry them, and feed them to people in Arkham so that no one will find. Your. Body.”

He gaped, sharpie falling from his hand.

“Definitely introduce to Damian, not Todd,” he mumbled.

“What was that?”

“I’ll buy you the coffee.” 

“Thanks!” Marinette beamed at him.

And if she happens to bump into Tim once or twice each week, well, she won't be complaining about the free coffee she gets.

Bonus:

"Can I order a grande cappuccino with four additional espresso shots? Twice."

The barista threw a concerned look to both of his regular customers. He hesitated a few seconds.

"Listen, Eric-" the girl with pigtail started.

"That would be 9.60, thank you," he rushed.

The two can take it, he's seen them live through worse.

At least the guy left a 15 dollar tip.

And the girl seemed scary.

But, his name wasn't Eric.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Marinette met Tim! 
> 
> The next chapter will be with Dick Grayson! 
> 
> For every kudos and comment, I'm sending you love! And a star! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> (No, but seriously, thank you all so much for the positive reactions, I'm so happy I could melt every time I read them)


	3. Dick Grayson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooking class with Dick and Marinette. Going about as well as you would imagine.

“Today we’ll be doing pasta with a tomato sauce and we’ll also learn to bake our own bread! Now, please, pay attention to me, this is a pan-”

Marinette almost laughed and raised an amused stare to the person next to her. Who was hanging on every word that left the instructor’s mouth. And yes, maybe it was Marinette fault for taking beginner’s cooking classes, but that was ridiculous. The instructor was explaining the use of a ladle **. **

Marinette was broke. Yes, she had a scholarship to pay for her uni. And her MDC boutique pays her interest-in-fancy-fabrics habit and drinking-unnecessary-strong-coffee habit. But as long as she didn’t want to do something that would put her on Batman’s blacklist, she couldn’t afford to refuse free food.

And so, when the school was offering an on-campus cooking class, Marinette, the daughter of two bakers, signed in without giving it a second thought. It was _ free _ .

She coughed to get the attention of a guy next to her. He was looking at the ladle **** in his hand with fascination.

”You don’t look like a college student.”

“Huh? Yeah, I mean, no,” the guy scratched the back of his neck and smiled. 

His smile was bigger than Chat Noir’s want to pun and his blue eyes were brighter than her future. 

Huh, nice one Marinette, maybe you can work in the newspaper.

“I lost a bet. Also my brothers were using their puppy-eyes power, which they totally learned from me by the way. Then, they mentioned that I have a responsibility to feed them as the oldest and it was decided. It was like my mouth was speaking yes without knowing what I was doing," he sent her another one of his fifty karat smiles. 

“And normally you have a personal chef cooking for you or what?”

"Well, no, but our butler Alfred cooks for us." After he saw her look he rushed to add. “He’s more like a part of a family, but that just means that we’re at the mercy of the frozen goods when he’s out of the city. It gets old quickly.”

Butler? Okay, he over-estimated him. Maybe he needs an explanation for the use of a ladle.

///

"Did you just put the pasta in the pan? And without the water?" Marinette looked at the burning pasta.

Maybe he also needed an explanation on how to cook the fricking pasta.

“Yeah?” came the tentative answer. 

“It’s burning.”

“Really?”

She shot him her best unimpressed look she learned at her Mandarin classes.

"You look like someone I know."

"Are they scary?"

"The scariest."

"Good."

///

“Did you just put the rice flour in the bread thingy you’re making?”

“Are you questioning my cooking methods? Mr. After-I-put-pasta-in-pan-I-tried-to-cut-the-tomatoes-but-cut-myself?”

She was enjoying his discomfort way more than was healthy.

"That was a genuine question, you know, I'm trying to learn the recipes from the best," he winked at her. 

He won this time.

///

“Are we making any dessert today?”

“Please, even if we were, the only way you’d get anywhere near the oven would be through my dead body. I’m not letting you destroy  _ pastry _ .”

///

"You seem like you know what you’re doing almost better than the lady teaching us," he shook his head. She looked to the front for the first time in half an hour, then back at her cooking partner. 

"My parents own a bakery" she shrugged.

"Forgive me for asking, but why did you take a cooking class?"

"They're free," she threw him a pointed look.

"But you know how to cook."

"The food is free,” she stressed. “If I have to eat another canned soup I might do something not pretty to someone.”

"Okay, that makes sense."

///

"Actually, I’m almost a hundred percent sure that at least two of my brothers can cook, they just love to watch me suffer. And I don’t have any proof."

///

After an hour and half of her baking and her desk mate doing  _ something,  _ she could say that the food looked amazing. She grabbed the **** spoon and the pot **** and turned to wash them. 

She heard a clinking sound.

“Oops.”

“Please, tell me you didn’t.”

“I didn’t?”

She slowly turned back.

“Dick.”

“Yes?”

"You should have the decency to at least look perturbed, I'm swearing at you."

"Oh,” he slapped his forehead and immediately scolded his expression to a sorrowful one. “I’m sorry. But that's my name."

He held out his hand.

"Richard. Dick."

"Oh. Marinette. Mari. Or Nette, but almost no one calls me that." 

"Pleasure to meet you."

"I’m still angry at you for flipping this over, you know."

He had the decency to look ashamed.

"I can make it up to you," he said. 

If Marinette didn’t have years of experience of Adrien doing the kicked puppy look, she would be helpless.

"It's fine, I can make something in our shitty dorm kitchens..." she longingly looked at the shiny kitchen equipment.

"Will it be a canned soup?"

“You’re walking on thin ice,  _ Dick _ .”

He flinched.

“But I have an idea!”

"Color me as worried as I am intrigued."

“First of all, I like you already. But second of all, what would you say to dinner?"

"Are you asking me out? Because you seem like you are at least ten years older than me and-"

"No! What? No, I didn’t mean it like that," he spluttered. "I meant like, to come to my house tomorrow, you can use the kitchen as much as you'd like. That is, if you want to."

She would swear she heard "and we’d get a good dinner" but she couldn't be sure. She shot him a glare, just to be sure.

"So you're asking me to come to your house now? Forward." She raised her eyebrows at him. He started spluttering again until he noticed her grin. 

"You're actually terrible, you know that? Pigtails, yeah, a nice girl my-" he laughed but his shoulders relaxed. 

Marinette looked back at the splash that used to be a tomato sauce. She sighed and started saying the-not-nice-things in Mandarin, which is a habit she developed approximately one month ago. 

"Is that Mandarin?" he looked at her.

"Yeah," she murmured, still looking at what should have been her dinner.

"Do I want to know what you said?"

"No, I don’t think you do," she raised her head and flashed him a grin, somehow showing all of her teeth. They seemed sharp. He swallowed.

"You seem like you would get along with my brother Damian," he forced a laugh. "Actually, he should be there at dinner tomorrow."

"Are you trying to play a matchmaker?" 

"I don’t know what you're talking about, my new little sister" he put his hand around her shoulders. 

She groaned.

"If I had a nickel every time someone tried to set me up with their younger brother Damian this month; I would have two nickels. Which isn't much, but it's strange that it happened twice."

"I don't know what you did to deserve that but I'm sorry. You said twice?"

"Yeah, last week it was a fellow coffeeholic that looked like he might need the coffee more than I did."

"Black hair, glasses, obsessed with work?" he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Er- how did you-?" she looked at him confusedly.

"Either Damian marries you or we're getting B to adopt you." he beamed. 

It didn’t settle her nerves or confusion at all. 

"What?"

"Don't worry, my definitely-future sister."

///

"So are you coming to dinner?"

"This is Gotham, there are at least a million good reasons for why it is a bad idea to go to a stranger’s house."

"Fair point, but you've already met Tim and me at our worse and somehow still talked to both of us after. And we can call one of the Gotham's vigilantes for safety but I'm almost sure you could take out anyone in this city. You are a scary person, Nettie."

"Okay, so tomorrow?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!
> 
> So, for people asking, Marinette is still Ladybug, Gotham heroes have seen her a few times, but so far haven't managed to talk to her (Tim: "It's not possible. Please, anyone, give me any other explanation than magic."). We'll get there later. 
> 
> The next chapter is Damian Wayne is back and teased mercilessly by his sibling. Also, it might not be any new member of the Batfam, just dinner, but we'll see. Write in the comments what you think!
> 
> Thank you for all your nice comments and kudos!!


	4. Dinner at the Manor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I want to thank the most amazing DigitalMagpie for beta reading the chapter. She put her time and effort into making the chapter better so thank you so much!! ❤

The bell rang at 5 pm sharp. 

"She's here!" Dick shouted from somewhere in the Manor.

"You could have told us that you're having a date tonight!" the second shout answered him.

"Excuse you; I'll have you know that she is my new sister."

"B is out of the city so you decided to take on the family mantle and adopt a new sibling?"

"She has black hair and blue eyes. B would approve. Demon Spawn, can you go open the door? I'm getting dressed."

Damian grumbled. He stood up only because there was a poor person waiting behind the door. With only a half-brain, since she actually seemed to accept Grayson's invitation to the house. He made his way to the door, doing his best to ignore Tim and Dick bickering. He had years of experience, after all.

"And don't act so innocent, Timber, you've already approved of her as a good match for the Demon Spawn, here."

"Excuse me, but why would I do that to _anyone_?" 

It was getting increasingly difficult for Damian to ignore them.

"She met you in one of your ‘I-need-coffee’ crazes. It's possible you just forgot the conversation as you snorted liters of coffee."

Damian opened the door as Drake spluttered something from inside the house. And saw a girl with a huge smile on the other side. Her smile morphed into an ‘O’ as she saw him. 

"No, no, no. You're _the_ Damian?" 

He frowned at her and opened the mouth to respond.

"Hi, Nettie!" Grayson swooped in and hugged Marinette. 

"Hey, Dick," she smiled, although she froze for a millisecond before returning the hug.

"Oh, my coffee twin! So, you're the one Dick officially adopted as our new sister!" Drake said as he peeked at their guest from behind Damian. 

"Yep! Isn't she amazing?" Dick let go of Marinette and beamed. Damian resisted the urge to shield his eyes, noting that the smile has now returned to her face. She would need at least 3-inch heels to just reach Dick's shoulders, but with bright blue eyes and black hair, they could be mistaken for siblings. Damian stopped Tim from stepping next to them. 

"Demon's Spawn, now would be the time to introduce yourself," Dick threw him a pointed look.

"Dupain-Cheng," he glared.

"It is custom to say your name and not a random na-" grinning Dick was cut off by Marinette. 

"Wayne." The two looked at each other.

"Wait," Drake said, realization dawning upon him, "you're the Dupain-Cheng from his Mandarin class!"

Dick eyes widened at Tim’s comment. "Oh, this is priceless!" Tim and Dick looked at each other giggling. "We were trying to introduce Damian to his crush!"

"She's not my crush." 

"Well, you mention her an awful lot for someone without a crush," Tim grinned, sliding an arm around Damian shoulders. He brushed it off, using maybe a little bit more strength than necessary.

"Because she’s annoying."

"Back at you, Wayne."

Tim managed to get "I can feel the tension" out between laughs.

"She'll fit perfectly in the family," Dick said at the same time, chuckling.

The tips of Damian's ears reddened and she shot Tim a deadly stare. He didn't even flinch. Without a word, he opened the door fully for Marinette to step in. 

"So, back to your crush," Tim said.

Damian upped the intensity of his look from ‘I-will-hurt-you’ to ‘no-one-will-find-your-body.’ Tim continued talking. Being Red Robin probably took all of his sense of self-preservation. Maybe a strong hit would help. For now, he sufficed with a subtle kick to his shin.

"Why did my brother ask you to come here?" he asked the only person in the room who seemed to have at least one functional brain cell. The person who was currently red in the face with her hand clasped to her mouth. "Dupain-Cheng, do you find this situation chucklesome?"

Which set off yet another laughing fit from Dick and Tim. 

He ignored Dick’s “Is that a real word?” which mingled with Tim’s “I think Christmas came early this year.”

"No?" came Marinette’s reply, muffled by her hand. It appeared that she was also shaking now. Maybe she wasn’t well?

"I don't appreciate that it sounds like a question," he glared at her.

"Well, I don't appreciate your face," she retorted.

One of the two idiots that called him their brother was rolling on the ground, while the second one shouted “Oh, snap!”

"Really?" he took a step closer to her. She looked him in the eyes and stayed put. He took another step. She unconsciously took a step back, startled when her back hit the door that shut behind her with a quiet _clack_. 

"Is Demon Spawn flirting with her or intimidating her. I seriously can’t tell."

Marinette jumped slightly. ~~Her eyes are so blue.~~

"Really," she pushed him by the shoulder and slipped around him. 

Dick and Tim exchanged a look. 

Idiot number one stood up, brushed off his pants, and wrapped an arm around her. Damian scowled, which he gleefully ignored. "So, Future-part-of-our-family," he started, looking absurdly pleased at the girl's squeak. (And Damian's murderous glare.) "What do you want to make for dinner?"

///

"So, did I hear ‘crush’?"

"-tt- don’t flatter yourself, Dupain-Cheng, it's your hearing problem acting out again."

She laughed and Damian let out a quiet chuckle.

They didn’t notice his gaping brothers.

///

“Feel free to take anything that you might need. If you want something special, I can make Tim go shopping-”

“Hey!”

“And if you need any help,” Dick continued as if he was never interrupted, “I’m sure that the lovebird here can give you a hand.”

Damian never wanted to go this far, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He aimed his ‘Alfred-will-hear-about-this’ face at Dick.

///

"Literature Peasant," Marinette stuck out her tongue at Damian.

"You haven't even met Todd; how could you know?"

"Well, Tim-"

"He will not survive this night."

"Did you mean to say that out loud?"

He only smirked at her.

/// 

During the next hour-and-a-half, Marinette didn’t let anyone in the kitchen. Dick tried to enter once, but after ten seconds, a crash, and a yelp, he was back out of the kitchen. He grumbled something and went to set the table.

Cat Alfred sat on Damian’s lap, accepting his master’s petting while his master lounged, occasionally flipping the pages of the book in front of him. Tim was furiously typing on his laptop.

Marinette put a steaming lasagna on the table. Then she went back and brought small baguettes with butter and garlic. It looked delicious.

“I don’t eat meat,” he looked at her, frowning.

“I know; you’ve mentioned it in class,” she smiled at him. “There’s no meat in them.”

“Demon Spawn, please, if you don’t marry her…” Dick said, looking amused.

She spluttered something, but Damian found himself returning her smile.

///

“Dick, I wouldn’t peg you for a big Shakespeare fan.”

“What, I don’t look like a literary person?” he playfully pouted at Marinette.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

“Fair enough," Dick conceded and stabbed his fork into the food. "Yeah, I’ve read some of his works, but wouldn’t consider myself a fan… Why do you ask?"

She scrunched her eyebrows.

"Well, when I first met Tim-"

Damian scowl deepened on the word “first.” When he realized, he schooled his face back to its usual frown.

"He mentioned his older brother liking literature, so I assumed-" Marinette trailed off.

"Oh! He must have meant Jayson, but he's not here now.” He turned to Tim. “Do you know when Jaybird’s coming?”

“No idea, he was working on-”

”How did you two even meet?" Damian interrupted and glared at Tim. Seriously, talking about work in front of a civilian?

"He spilled my coffee-"

"What?!" Dick looked scandalized.

"I even had to clean my shirt after," she laughed. 

Damian looked at Dick, who seemed to be having all the signs of stroke. He thought about helping him, but decided against. 

"He bought me a new coffee," she rushed to say. Maybe her observation skills weren’t as off as he thought and she saw that Dick’s charming personality (it _hurt_ Damian to even think that word in connection with anyone in his family) couldn’t take more impoliteness against his new sister.

"After she threatened me," Tim proudly added.

Damian covered his smile. 

"You could have invited her to dinner or something as compensation." 

"Well, sorry that I solved the ca- the lawsuit from work.”

“And not all of us consider inviting people to their house to _make_ dinner a paragon of politeness," Damian added.

"He has a point you know," Tim looked pained to agree with Damian on anything.

"Well, some of us have manners-"

"‘Some of us’ meaning only you, or is there someone who reaches your impossible standards?" Tim interrupted.

"Me," Dick paused, puffing his chest, "and Alfred!"

Damian protectively wrapped his hands around Alfred and pulled him closer. 

"The human," Dick says, his eye twitching. That makes Marinette burst out laughing, for some unknown reason. 

“And he apologized." She calmed down, smiling at both Tim and Dick.

"You know I’m not a complete monster. I appreciate good coffee and can mourn the loss," Tim wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

After a second Marinette added, "Wait, ‘Jason’? How many siblings do you have?"

"If only we knew."

"It's like every few months B decides to adopt a new kid. He has a problem," Dick said, lowering his voice during the second sentence.

"Once, we tried to get him to go to an AA meeting, but it turned out it wasn't ‘Adopters Anonymous,’" Tim cringed at the thought.

"Yeah, Replacement, that was awkward to explain."

"In my defense, I was only 13 and I made the mistake of believing Jason."

///

"Maybe he'll adopt you if you ask nicely-" Dick sighted at the taste of the food.

"I have parents."

"Damnit."

///

"So, can you tell us how you two met from your point of view? Damian has a skewed view of reality," Dick asked.

"Well, the first two weeks of our classes I thought he's an insufferable brat-"

"It's like she was already a part of the family."

Damian resisted the urge to smash his head on the nearest hard object repeatedly. At least the food was delicious. Not that he’d admit that out loud. But a small smile her way wouldn’t hurt.

She smiled brightly back at him. “Can you help me make the dessert?”

Bonus:

Dick: Marinette, these macarons are delicious! How many more cooking classes do I have to attend to reach this level?

Marinette: Thank you, and let me think.

Marinette, counting on her fingers: One, two, three-

Marinette: -approximately four hundred classes.

*offended Dick noises*

Bonus 2:

Damian and Marinette talking about who was more annoying during Mandarin classes. Everyone agreeing with Marinette.

Damian: What have I done to all of you?

Tim: You want the list alphabetically or by dates?

Damian:

Tim:

Marinette: Nice one! *high fives Tim*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading!!
> 
> It's amazing to read all of your comments, aaahh, I'm so happy to read all of them!
> 
> The next chapter will be with either Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown (because they are a part of the family, even without the official adoption papers, fight me). You can write in the comments if you have a preference. 
> 
> Have a nice day!!


	5. Stephanie Brown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets Steph! Somehow, Damian will be here too...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to the amazing beta reader DigitalMagpie!!

Marinette opened the Notepad app in her phone. New note. To-do list. _Shout at Alya_.

First of all, Aya laughed at her for at least twenty minutes after Marinette told her that almost all of the people that she befriended in Gotham were Waynes. Then, she suggested asking the girl with whom she’s sharing a bathroom in the dorms to do something social. Like going to a bar. Alya must have persuasion skills on the same level as Tim when he wanted coffee because, after an hour-long call, the bar sounded like a terrific idea. A bar in Gotham. Alya must be a magician.

That’s how she found herself there. 

After a half-hour of waiting, Marinette opened the Notepad app again. She wrote a second note. _Also shout at the girl from the dorms._ She should learn her name. But she hadn’t understood her very well when she told her the first time, and now she was too embarrassed to ask.

Still, it was on Marinette that she actually believed the girl would show up. The girl studies psychology at Gotham State University, of all places. It is said that Scarecrow, Harley, and some other villains/past professors give lectures from time to time. No one stops them because their lectures are good. Also, who in their right mind would try to stop them? 

(Some students say that the University lets them because they don’t have to pay anything, but Marinette liked to think better of the University’s administration.)

She contemplated transforming into Ladybug and just swinging back when someone stopped her.

“It’s great that I have a library card, because I’m totally checking you out,” a male voice said close to her ear. She jerked away and looked at the guy that spoke. He looked at least ten years older than her. Creepy. 

Marinette cast an eye over his baggy, low-waist jeans and shirt with a few too many opened buttons. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but he was talking again.

“If you were a transformer, you’d be an Optimus Fine,” he looked her over and Marinette closed her mouth, or otherwise she might have gagged. Okay, he was too much after the first half-sentence left his mouth.

“Sorry, Mr. 2000s-fashion-that-was-never-in-in-the-first-place. First of all-” she started.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that,” he leaned into her space.

Marinette swung her fist and noted with satisfaction that his nose made an impressive ‘crack’ sound. Marinette saw a girl rushing to her.

"Oh shit! You took him down already; I just came to help you," the girl smiled at her brightly. She was wearing a short green dress and was in her early 20s, her hair impressively floating behind her.

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled at her confusedly. “But thank you anyway.”

“Normally I would punch him too, but I wanted to try that ‘that’s my girlfriend’ thing at least once. You know, like in movies,” she was talking a mile a minute. Marinette liked her. “And if someone hits on Cassandra, they’re all dead in, like, the next minute and it looks like an accident so I never had the chance. Perhaps I could try it when someone flirts with Dick, but he usually flirts back...” 

She laughed and Marinette joined her, even though she wasn’t sure what was happening.

She looked at the girl’s long blond hair. Okay, first non-Wayne-ish trait checked. If she didn’t mention a younger brother Damian in the next few minutes, Marinette could consider this evening a win.

“Stephanie Brown. You can call me Steph,” she stretched out her hand and smiled. _Okay, her last name was fine, but so was Tim’s and Dick’s so she was not letting her guard down yet._

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she responded and shook her hand. Something flashed in Steph’s eyes. If it was anyone who knew Steph, they would know that it would be best to just run. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know her yet, so she just smiled back.

“Wait, my friend is here with me, I finally persuaded him to go out after months of trying,” her smile widened. Marinette patiently waited as she waved at someone behind Marinette. She turned, but in the dimmed lights she could only see a tall figure and black hair. “Dami!”

Dammit.

But there was no way that could be him. Gotham is a big city; she has to eventually meet someone outside of the family...

Right?

"Brown, if you try to introduce me to another person, I will personally drag you to the Manor and let Alfred give you a lecture. Moreover, I saw someone I know here, so I would prefer to go now."

"But this is your friend-"

"Brown, I don't have friends," his sight landed on a grinning Marinette. 

"Dami?" her grin grew even more. 

"I'll leave you to it," Steph laughed and bounced away.

"Brown, I swear to God, if you leave-" he turned to an empty space. 

“That’s not how I imagined this evening would go,” she murmured in French. 

“You know I also speak French,” he raised his eyebrows at her. She muttered an Arabic curse under her breath. “That’s my first language,” he said. “Seriously, are you even trying, Dupain-Cheng?”

She swore she could hear Steph laughing somewhere.

///

Marinette looked at him. “So, we’re both in a bar.”

“Yes.”

“And neither of us can drink.”

“And?”

“And we don’t even want to _be_ here.”

“And your point is, Dupain-Cheng?”

“No, I’m just asking if we’re both on the same page here, because I think I’m going home.” Marinette stood up.

“Wait!” he said. She turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll walk you,” he looked at her and smiled.

“Oh yes, now I see all the symptoms,” she nodded solemnly and walked to the exit.

“What?” he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

“Of the crush your brothers mentioned, of course,” came her sing-song reply.

The cold air hit her face as she stepped out of the crowded room. She sighed contently. With a smile on her face, she turned to him. His glare softened as he saw her expression.

“I don’t get crushes,” he nevertheless grumbled.

“Sure, you don’t,” she tapped his nose and bounced away before he realized what happened. She could feel his glare on her back. 

///

“It’s dangerous,” he stated after a few moments of quiet walking. Well, Gotham-night quiet.

“Huh?” she glanced at him, then back to the relative stillness of the city.

“To walk alone. Gotham’s dangerous,” he elaborated.

“Not when you’re a hero,” she murmured distractedly. 

“What?”

“What?” she forced out a laugh. “I said, not when you have heroes. You- you know, to protect you and… stuff.”

They both stopped. He narrowed his eyes at her. She shuffled and started walking again. 

“Well, the dorms are near, so, let’s go, my knight in a… a… what are you wearing again?” she turned and gave him an exaggerated one over, now laughing genuinely. She continued in a fake announcer’s voice, “that seems a bit formal for a bar, but okay, suit it is! At least you’re not wearing a tie. My knight in a shining suit!”

“Still better than your other knight in shining- What was it?” he rubbed his chin.

“Please, don’t continue that sentence.”

“Yes,” he pointed his finger. “Baggy pants!” 

“I thought you came later and didn’t see him,” she groaned.

“I saw you, but then I had to look for Steph. You found her earlier than I did. In the end, at least I had the fortune of hearing his first phrase.”

She groaned again and tried to stomp on his foot. Unsuccessfully. 

“What did he say again? Did he use the library-card line?”

“Let’s never talk about it again, please,” Marinette buried her face in her hands and peeked between her fingers to try to continue the attack on his feet.

Success!

“Ouch!” he said, more from surprise than pain.

“Be glad you didn’t hear the other one,” Marinette regretted the sentence even before it left her mouth.

“The _other_ one? That idiot said something more?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Was it something akin to,” he paused, “‘Do you believe in love at first sight or I should come again?’”

“It wasn’t that, but that would have been better.”

“Was it, ‘Can I follow you because my parents told me to follow my dreams?’”

“It might work out if you put some acting skills into that.”

“Don’t say that you would fall for anything so shoddy,” he frowned at her.

“I don’t even know what that word means,” she gave him a blank look.

“Inferior, bad. Keep up, Dupain-Cheng.”

“Marinette,” she offered quietly, looking up.

“Marinette.”

/// 

"I'm here, what are your other two wishes?"

"Don't be so full of yourself."

"But you're laughing,"

" _At_ you, not with you, Damian."

///

“You’re quite hot for an ice king.”

He raised his eyebrows, pink dusting his cheeks. She laughed.

“Okay, I can’t believe I just said that, but you started it.

///

A few minutes and more than a few bad pick-up lines later, they stopped in front of the dorms. She took out her keys as Damian put a hand on her wrist. She froze and looked at it. She turned to him.

“I could get lost in your eyes,” he said quietly, their eyes locked.

She looked at her feet.

“Stop. That’s neither funny, nor a pickup line,” she shuffled her feet.

“I’m not joking.” 

She refused to look up.

“Marinette,” he put a thumb under her chin. She shuddered from the… _cold air, yes. Very cold… warm air, with blazing jade eyes and… oh, get a grip Marinette, you’re losing it._

“Damian,” she breathed. And then they were both leaning in and their lips touched. She jolted away but the hands on her waist stopped her from moving too far and she didn’t even notice when he put them there. She looked at him, their faces an inch apart, and they kissed again. Her hands found their way to his hair as he pulled her flush against him. She could feel the heat radiating from him and she tentatively tugged his hair. He groaned quietly from the back of his throat in return and that spread the warmth to her whole body. After a few moments, she sighed into the kiss as it became slower and gentler. 

They pressed their foreheads together, both breathing hard. He looked beautiful, his green irises almost totally covered by the fully-blown pupil, his normally combed hair now standing in every direction, his chest rapidly rising with each breath. 

“So, Marinette,” his voice came out an octave lower. Her whole body melted from hearing her name in that tone. She wanted to ask him to say it again so she could record it and listen to it on repeat. “I was thinking-”

“Woohoo!”

They both startled at the shout, jumping away from each other. 

“Brown, did you seriously follow us the whole time?” he narrowed his eyes looking to the side. “And are you hiding in the bushes?”

Stephanie walked out, a few leaves in her hair, humming to herself. Then she started singing.

“Damian and Marinette, sitting in a tree-”

“Shut up, Brown,” Damian growled, wrapping a hand around Marinette’s waist.

“Make me!” she shouted back. Damian leaned down and after a moment, Stephanie shouted again. “Ow, did you just throw a rock at me?”

“You know I’m capable of much more!”

“Aw, you haven’t changed one bit, Demon Spawn,” she laughed and bounced away. 

“Can we believe that she’s not here now?” Marinette laughed softly, looking him in the eye.

“If she knows what’s good for her,” he murmured, then fondly looked back at Marinette. “So, would you like to go on a date with me?”

Something mischievous flashed in her eyes. “Sure, text me.”

“I believe I don’t have your number,” he took out his phone to hand it to her.

“Don’t worry, Dick does,” she beamed.

“Marinette, I’m not going to ask Grayson for your number.”

“Bye!” she twisted from his arms, pecked him on the lips, unlocked the door, and slipped inside.

“Marinette!”

“See you in class! Oh, and Tim should have my number too!” she shouted, already on the stairs.

“You can’t be serious!”

“I’ll text Dick and tell him to give it to Steph, too. See ya!”

He heard her laugh, doors shutting in his face.

Bonus:

Damian: Dick, I hate to admit it, but the so-called pick-up lines you advised me to use did seem to have the desired effect.

Tim: Wait, seriously?

Damian:

Dick: No, but really, seriously?

Damian:

Tim:

Dick: 

Damian: Yes, now one more thing.

Dick: Sure, what do you need.

Damian: Can any of you give me her phone number?

Tim:

Dick:

Damian: Please?

Dick: Did he just said please? That girl is magical, he should marry her.

Damian: I’m still here. Just give me the number Grayson…

Tim: No, she’s too nice and too cute for him.

Damian: Still. Here.

Dick: Yeah, you might be right, do you think she’d like Jason?

Damian, seething: THE. NUMBER.

Both: No!

*they continue talking. Damian gives up and decides he'll ask Steph*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wohoo! Stephanie is so me, let's be honest. And yes, I suggest that I would too hide in the bushes.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it! Comments and kudos are highly appreciated! I'm so happy checking my inbox, it's amazing, thank you so so much! 
> 
> Also, who will be here in the next chapter? You guessed it, it's JASON!!


End file.
